Book Review: "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair

It’s not often that I get to read a book that is as big an eye opener as “The Jungle“. It’s on the same plane as “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and from what I read afterwards, was far more instrumental in bringing direct change to one of the largest industries in America based in Chicago – the stockyards where the packing of meat took place.

The book highlights in heartbreaking detail the difficulties faced by the working class at a time of unbridled capitalism with no checks and balances such as minimum wages, workplace safety, and disability. It shows the underbelly of a society that is dog eat dog with no mercy and no quarter. To think that such an abomination actually existed and survived for over a hundred years is startling.

Upton Sinclair’s research was very thorough in this book and there is very little exaggeration which makes it even more horrifying. The story is full of pathos as we see an

uneducated and illiterate immigrant come to America wanting to live the American dream. Completely naive and innocent about the ways of this corrupt society, we see his spirit being systematically crushed until there is nothing left of the strong, confident and well meaning man who first arrived.

This book demonstrates all the actors in the system who perpetuate this monstrous society – the meat packers and owners of the business, the police, the politicians, and criminals of every kind. Read it and be stunned.

If I have a complaint against the book, it is that the ending is weak. It ends with a treatise on Socialism and in this, the author proves to be as naive as his hero. Of course we can’t blame him in the least since it was set in 1905 or so and the whole idea of Socialism was completely untested and no one could have foreseen its end. But leaving the last two chapters aside, the books is a triumph in making people aware of the circumstances by which their food was brought to the table on the backs of millions of uneducated, defenseless and hapless humans at the mercy of the big corporations.